


Fly Hard

by BloodLily16



Series: Woman of Steel AU [2]
Category: Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, Superman - All Media Types, Superman: The Animated Series
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, Bisexual Lois Lane, Bisexual Superman, F/F, Female Clark Kent, Genderbending, Genderswap, Kinda, Lois Lane loves Superwoman and not Clara, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Original Character(s), Original Female Character(s) - Freeform, Original Male Character(s) - Freeform, Self-Insert, Superwoman - Freeform, Unrequited Love, Woman of Steel AU, characters have tas appearances but this plot is taken from lois and clark, self insert characters are all side characters but still important to the plot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-28
Updated: 2018-12-28
Packaged: 2019-09-29 01:04:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,310
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17193578
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BloodLily16/pseuds/BloodLily16
Summary: There was a loud BANG, and Clara ‘accidentally’ tripped Lois, knocking her down and out of the way of the bullet that ripped through the glass and embedded itself in the wall, right where Lois’s heart had been. Lily screamed.“Well that’s enough of that,” said the man in the suit. “If Superwoman shows up, then we’ll really have no choice but to kill you all.”“So don’t try that again.” The woman who had dragged Jovan in stood next to the man in the suit, her gun smoking. “Or else.”Or, the staff of the Daily Planet are trapped in the building by a bunch of gunmen.





	Fly Hard

**Author's Note:**

> This takes place during early season 2, before 14 Months is a Long Time/World's Finest.

Clara Kent rubbed her eyes and took another look at the article she was supposed to be proofing.

“Having trouble, Kent?” Lois leaned over on her desk, sipping her coffee as she read the article over Clara’s shoulder.

“Yes and no,” said Clara. “I just want to know who in the Associated Press decided that Batman’s name has to have a ‘The’ in front of it.”

“I don’t care to be perfectly honest with you.” Lois sipped her coffee. “Why does it matter?”

“I have a few friends in Gotham, and nobody actually calls him ‘The Batman’,” said Clara.

“Since when do you have friends in _Gotham_?” asked Lois, with a teasingly catty edge to her voice.

“For a while,” said Clara. She didn’t quite feel like taking the bait this time. That was probably for the better, because those conversations always ended with Clara waxing poetic about the finer points about animal husbandry, and Lois never drank coffee at this hour if she wanted to stay awake.

“Why are you writing about the Batman anyway?” asked Lois.

“There was a series of arrests related to both Batman _and_ Lexcorp,” said Clara.

“Where’d you hear about that?”

“My friends in Gotham.” Clara adjusted her glasses and flashed Lois a smile.

Lois snorted and rolled her eyes.

“OLSEN!”

Jimmy shuffled out of Perry’s office as fast as he could, carrying a big, vintage sign.

“Get back out here!” Perry followed, hot on Jimmy’s heels. “And give that back!”

“You told me to help you clean your office,” said Jimmy. “And I can’t do that unless you let me toss this junk out!”

“That’s not _junk_!” Perry gesticulated wildly at the sign. “That was for the ‘78 Republican convention! Gerald Ford himself tripped over that sign!”

“Which is why it’s going out,” said Jimmy. “Before you trip over it and break your neck on the fifty other useless tchotkes you have in that place.”

“That sign’s history!”

“You’re exactly right, Chief.” Jimmy tossed it in a junk piled next to the elevator. “It’s history.”

“DON’T CALL ME CHIEF, YOU--!”

At that moment, the elevator doors opened with a ding, and young, blonde woman walked out, turned out of the elevator, immediately tripped over the sign, and face-planted with a yelp.

“Lily!” A guy about Jimmy’s age with brown hair  poked his head out and ran to help her up. The woman adjusted her glasses, bending the frames a little bit before she was finally satisfied.

“Lily!” Jimmy ran over to her, nearly tripping on a protest sign from some old political rally in the process.

“I’m fine, I’m fine,” said Lily. She brushed off her blue blouse and looked at the junk pile. “Jeez. What idiot put that there?”

“That idiot.” Perry jerked a thumb in Jimmy’s direction, and then he set about re-collecting the castoffs from his office.

Lily gave Jimmy a look.

“Sorry,” said Jimmy.

“Oh, he got you to help him clean this time, huh?” asked the brown-haired guy.

“Well, yeah,” said Jimmy.

“I remember when we were the unlucky newbies who had to dust his bumper sticker collection.”

“He has a bumper sticker collection?”

“He has signs from McCarthy-era protests, and _that’s_ what surprises you?” Lily kicked one of those signs to emphasize her point.

“Friends of yours?” Clara walked over, smiling.

“Oh,” said Jimmy. “Yeah. Uh, Clara, this is Lily and Jovan. They work as the hosts for the Solar Weekly, our podcast.”

“We have a podcast?” asked Clara, offering a hand.

“It’s new.” Jovan shook her hand. “We just got a sound effects library, and we wanted to come in and play around with it.”

“Hey, you know,” said Lily, “one of the episode ideas we’d cleared with Perry was interviews with our intrepid reporters. So if you’re interested, maybe we could work out a day for an interview?”

“I’ll keep it in mind,” said Clara.

“Don’t let Lily indimitate you or anything,” said Jovan. “She can be scary when she wants to be.”

“Jovan!” Lily elbowed him. “Listen, you’re the one who’s supposed to be recruiting!”

“So let me do my job.” Jovan ruffled Lily’s hair. “I don’t tell you how to edit, do I?”

“You do, actually.”

Jimmy laughed.

“Alright, smarty-pants!” Jovan rolled his eyes. “Let’s hurry up, before Perry drafts us into the cleaning patrol.”

With that, the two of them ran off to the audio room.

“Cute couple,” said Lois, walking up.

“Nah, they’re just friends,” said Jimmy.

“Really?” asked Clara.

“Pretty sure,” said Jimmy. “I mean, I asked them and they pretended to vomit, so I think it’s a pretty safe assumption to make.”

“Oh, hello!”

They turned to see Cat Grant and a tall, handsome man both looking flustered. Cat’s jacket was hanging off of her shoulder, and the man’s tie was undone, so it didn’t take a rocket scientist to guess what they’d been up to.

“Hi Cat,” said Lois, trying very, _very_ hard to hide the fact that she wanted to laugh. “Who’s your friend?”

“Oh?” Cat looked up at her date. “Oh! This is George! I was just going to show him, um….”

“How you put a newspaper to bed.” supplied George.

Jimmy jammed a fist in his mouth to stifle his laughter.

“Yeah, that.” Cat discreetly pinched George. “Unfortunately for the two of us, everyone seems to be working late tonight.”

“How unfortunate,” said Clara. “Maybe you could take him out and talk with him there?” She was using a tone of voice that made Lois seriously wonder if she got the innuendo. “Maybe you could watch some Netflix and, um, chill?” Oh, nevermind. She got it.

Jimmy doubled over like someone had punched him in the gut.

Clara smiled innocently.

“That sounds like a great idea,” said Cat. “Thank you, Clara.” She grabbed George by the lapels of his shirt and dragged him out of the room, into the elevator. The doors closed, and Lois was sure that whatever they’d been doing before they came in was resuming.

Lucky them.

Perry poked his head out of his office and glared at them. “If you’re done laughing at Grant’s latest conquest, you can get back to work. You especially, Olsen.”

“Sorry, boss,” said Clara.

Lois yawned and stretched.

Jimmy made it halfway into Perry’s office.

Then, the elevator door opened, and a man in a suit walked in, and people in military-style uniforms carrying guns surrounded them on all sides. One of them fired an assault rifle into the air, and Jimmy yelped. Lois made a beeline for her phone, but one of the soldiers shot at her feet.

“The Daily Planet building is now under our control,” said the man in the suit. “Co-operate, and everything will go smoothly.”

A soldier came out of the hallway, dragging Lily along behind her.

“Is that all of them?” asked the man in the suit.

“Yes sir.”

“Throw them all in the office,” said the man. “And if anyone wants to try anything funny….” He lifted his hand into the air, and showed the control switch to a bomb. “Then I press this, and we’ll all be blown sky-high.”

 

————

 

“Are you guys okay?” asked Lily.

“We’re fine,” said Lois. “What about you?”

“I’m okay,” said Lily. “But they’re jamming the cellphone signals to and from this building. I tried to call the cops, but it was no good, and when I took a swing at the lady, she pulled a gun.”

“You’re lucky you didn’t get yourself killed,” said Perry.

“There’s got to be some way we can get out of this,” said Jimmy.

Clara leaned against the wall and looked out the glass into the main room. The hijackers, whoever they were and whatever they were doing, were all crowded around a desk and were looking at something on the screen.

Clara lifted her glasses up and took a close, carefully looking at the switch for the bomb. If she could just find the connectors to the bomb, she could use her heat vision to sever the wires. Clara looked and concentrated… and concentrated… and concentrated. But nothing happened.

Lead.

Clara swore under her breath and lowered her glasses.

“Hey, Earth to Kent,” said Lois. “Any ideas?”

“These guys are serious,” said Clara. “They came in here when nobody was supposed to be here, and they’re prepared. They’re here for something, and I don’t like the idea of them getting it.”

“I have an idea,” said Jimmy. “Lois is here, right? So let’s just call in Superwoman!”

“How?”

“Super-hearing!” Lily snapped her fingers. “Just shout her name and she’ll come running!”

“That’s what she said,” said Jimmy.

“Nice.”

“You stop that!” snapped Perry.

Lois rolled her eyes. “I guess I’ll give it a shot.” She cleared her throat. “SUPERWOM—!!”

There was a loud BANG, and Clara ‘accidentally’ tripped Lois, knocking her down and out of the way of the bullet that ripped through the glass and embedded itself in the wall, right where Lois’s heart had been. Lily screamed.

“Well that’s enough of that,” said the man in the suit. “If Superwoman shows up, then we’ll really have no choice but to kill you all.”

“So don’t try that again.” The woman who had dragged Jovan in stood next to the man in the suit, her gun smoking. “Or else.”

“In fact!” The man in the suit grabbed Lois and yanked her up. “Just to ensure you won’t pull anything else, we’ll take Miss Lane as insurance.”

“Wait!” Clara took a step forward, and the woman pointed her gun at her. “Don’t hurt her. Take me instead.”

“Sorry, miss,” said the man in the suit. “But she _is_ Lois Lane. If Superwoman shows up, what better hostage could we ask for?”

Lois locked eyes with Clara and shook her head as the man in the suit frog-walked her out of the room.

“Miss Kent.” Lily put her hand on Clara’s arm. “It’s Lois Lane. If anyone of us is going to be okay, it’s her.”

Clara grimly wondered if Jovan would ever find out how mistaken he was.

“Calm down, Kent.” Perry clapped Clara on the back in what was probably supposed to be a comforting gesture. “Lane’s been through worse than this.”

“I should still be able to do _something_ ,” said Clara.

“If you really want to do something for her, then you can trust her to be smarter than to get herself killed.”

“Have you _met_ Lois?” asked Clara.

“You heard me,” said Perry. “Lane doesn’t need you to do anything stupid for her without thinking through the consequences.”

“Clara,” said Lily, “you’re a human cinnamon roll, but Perry’s right. Lois has made it through worse than this. The last thing we need is to be distract--.”

“Get in!”

The door opened, and a young woman with brown hair was shoved into the office by an armed goon.

“Oh, ow,” said the woman. “Why is there glass on the floor?”

“Jenny?” asked Lily. “Oh my gosh!” She ran forward and helped the woman up, and then hugged her.

“Wow.” Jenny pulled her sunglasses on top of her head and hugged Lily back. “Was everyone working late tonight?”

“Apparently so!” Perry threw his hands in the air. “What’s your excuse?”

“I left my phone in the building,” said Jenny.

“Did you manage to grab it?” asked Perry.

“Why?” asked Lily.. “I told you guys, the cell signals are being jammed.”

“Maybe the internet isn’t,” said Perry. “They took our phones, and then they nabbed my computer.” He pointed to the spot where his computer had been less than an hour ago.

“I didn’t get to it.” Jenny crossed her arms. “They got me when I entered the bullpen.”

“Dangit.”

“If only we knew where Jovan was,” said Lily.

“He got out?” asked Clara.

“I managed to stall them and convince them that I was alone,” said Lily. “But I don’t know where he is.”

“That means that they don’t either,” said Clara. “All we can do is try and find out a way to stop their plans, or for him to escape.”

“Or for a miracle,” said Jenny.

“We might have one.” Perry pointed out the glass window of the office. “Look!”

The elevator doors opened, and Cat sauntered out, grinning like the cat who’d caught the canary. The goons were in another part of the bullpen, apparently oblivious to Cat strutting over to her desk to grab a pair of red, furry handcuffs. Everyone frantically waved at her.

Cat looked up, saw them, and waved. Everyone frantically pantomimed guns, goons, and/or pointed at the goons in the bullpen.

Cat paused for a moment, then she waved and flounced right back to the elevator, ignoring everyone’s increasingly frantic hand movements. She went back down the elevator, seemingly none the wiser to what had just happened.

“If we live,” said Jenny. “Then I’m going to kill her.”

“Me too,” said Lily.

“I’ll help,” said Jimmy.

“Plan the murder later,” said Perry. “We have actual work to do.”

Clara looked out the window at the goons, who were all crowded around Perry’s stolen computer and Lois, who was typing something on Perry’s computer. The man in the suit was talking to some of the other goons about something or other. Clara closed her eyes and focused in on their conversation with her super hearing.

“—or the boss is going to be sorely disappointed in you,” said the man in the suit. “We need to find Dragonetti’s safe, and fast.”

“I don’t like that Lane lady poking around the computers, is all.”

“I know, but I don’t care.” The man in the suit adjusted his cuff. “She’s useful. She knows the computer systems better than we do, and she’s much easier to handle than White.”

Clara allowed herself a moment to appreciate the irony of someone referring to Lois as easy to handle.

“That safe is somewhere in this building,” said the man in the suit, “and I, for one, intend to get my share of that money.”

The goon was about to respond, when one of the other goons shouted something and grabbed Lois. One of the goons frantically shut something down, and then pulled his hand back like he was going to hit Lois. The man in the suit caught his hand and looked at the screen, squinting at whatever the readout was.

“Put her back with the others,” said the man in the suit.

“But boss—!”

“ _NOW!_ ”

The female goon dragged Lois back over and all but threw her in Perry’s office.

“Are you okay?” Clara helped Lois steady herself.

“I’m fine.” Lois put a hand to her head and shook it. “But I think I know what Fuentes is looking for.”

“Who?” asked Jimmy.

“The guy in the suit,” said Lois. “He’s looking for some mobster’s safe, that’s supposed to be hidden here in the building.”

“Dragonetti’s safe?” posited Clara.

“How did you—?”

“Lucky guess.”

“I remember that story,” said Perry. “But it’s not here, I’m positive. The cops checked every inch of the building for it, and they came up with nothing.”

“You wanna tell them that?” asked Jenny.

“Do you?” Perry shot back.

“And there’s still no way for us to get out of here and call the cops?” asked Lily.

“None that I can see,” said Lois.

The goons were looking at the screen and talking about something. Clara was about to start eavesdropping again when Fuentes pointed at the office and gave orders. The goons ran over and opened the door, pulling them all out of Perry’s office. Several of the goons trained guns on them while two others went in with box cutters and pickaxes.

“What in sam hill do you think you’re doing?” asked Perry.

The goons said nothing. Instead, they moved Perry’s desk to one of the walls and cut the carpet open. One of them had a miniature metal detector. He swept it along the floor, until finally it started beeping frantically. The goon put the metal detector to the side, and the two of them hacked away at the floor with their pickaxes until one of them hit metal. They dug the metal object out of the cement and pulled it out, revealing nothing other and an old safe.

“Dragonetti’s treasure,” breathed Lily.

“Wicked,” said Jenny.

Fuentes nodded at the safe, and turned to the hostages, looking immensely satisfied with himself.

“It’s only fair that now,” he said, “at our moment of triumph, I introduce you to our mastermind so that he can do the actual unveiling.” He pointed to the elevator. For not the first time that night, the elevator dinged, and the doors opened to reveal none other than…

“Jovan?” gasped Lily.

Jovan looked up at them, sheepishly, and put his hand up like he was going to wave. Then, he put his other hand up and turned, moving forward to reveal…

“Willy?” gasped the hostages. The old security guard nudged Jovan in the back with his gun, and he joined the rest of the hostages.

“Willie,” said Perry. “How could you do this? We’re buddies. I recommended you for the job!”

“Would you have recommended me if you’d known I’d had a prison record?” asked Willie.

Perry blinked.

“But Willie,” said Lois. “Just because you did something bad in your past doesn’t mean you have to turn to a life of crime in your sunset years!”

“I only got out ten months ago,” said Willie.

“Oh.”

“But surely it can’t be as bad as armed robbery or kidnapping!” said Clara.

“Murder one,” said Willie.

“Oh.”

Jimmy groaned.

“I don’t suppose you’ll remember that nice batch of cupcakes I gave you for your birthday?” asked Lily, a little sheepishly.

“I do,” said Willie. “But this is more important than that.” He nodded at Fuentes, who gestured for the goons to open the safe. They did, and it opened to reveal several envelopes made of old, yellow paper. One of the goons opened one, and knit his brow together.

“It’s just papers,” said the goon.

Fuentes turned and looked at Willie.

“Well of course they’re papers,” said Willie. “There’s money in there too, of course, but the documents are what we’re after.”

Fuentes scowled and snapped his fingers, and the goon handed the documents to Willie. The female goon went through the safe and started pulling out old dollar bills.

“What documents could possibly be worth all this?” asked Perry.

“Remember that murder one charge?” asked Willie. “It wasn’t me. Old Dragonetti and I used to know each other, and when he needed to wash his hands of a murder, he framed me for it.” Willie raised the envelope into the air. “But these papers prove everything! With them, I can finally get my name cleared!”

“Not so fast.” Fuentes pointed his gun at Willie. “Sorry, old man, but no-one’s getting their name cleared.”

“Now wait a cherry-picking second!” said Willie. “You can’t just--!”

“I can.” Fuentes cocked his gun. “Clean out the safe. And someone grab Miss Lane. We’ll need a hostage.”

“You don’t want her as a hostage,” said Clara.

Fuentes turned and glowered at her. “What did you say?”

“Clara, no!” said Jenny.

“If you take Lois Lane as a hostage, then you’ll have Superwoman tracking you down,” said Clara. “But if you leave her behind, then you’ll have more time to escape.”

“Kent, shut up!” Lois hissed, stomping on Clara’s foot.

“Lois.” Clara put a hand on Lois’s shoulder.

Fuentes looked at Lois, and then at the hand, and then at Clara. The penny dropped, and then he smirked.

“So it’s like that, huh?” He put his gun to Clara and grabbed her by the shoulder. “Fine, then. Your girlfriend gets to stay here with all the other hostages.”

“Girlfriend—?”

“Come on!” Fuentes jerked Clara along with a not-inconsiderable amount of force, and Clara let him tug her along. She eyed the bomb, which was held by one of the other goons. As soon as they were out of range, then she could grab it. It would be so easy, if only she could get them distracted.

The elevator dinged.

“FREEZE!” shouted Detective Sawyer, pointing a gun at Fuentes, as Turpin and the other members of the SCU piled in, pointing guns at the goons.

Oh. Well, that would work.

Fuentes brought his gun up to point it at Clara, but Clara stomped on his foot. Not enough to seriously injure him (much), but enough to leave a nasty bruise and to hurt like the dickens. Fuentes yowled, and Clara knocked the gun out of his hand, and then jumped for the goon. The goon was barely recovering from his shocks at seeing the cops, and so was not prepared for a surprisingly strong female reporter to grab for the bomb.

“Bomb!” Lily screamed. “They have a bomb Clara’s getting it oh my gosh don’t shoot her!”

The goon struggled with Clara, but Clara faked a lucky break and knocked it out of his hands, ‘luckily’ into the waiting hands of Turpin, who didn’t even fumble it.

The rest of the goons up their hands up, and Clara breathed a sigh of relief. Turpin handed the bomb off to a bomb specialist, who ran away to disarm it.

“Are you all okay?” Sawyer walked forward as the rest of the SCU officers arrested the goons.

“Thanks to you,” said Perry. “Heckuva entrance.”

“How’d you know to show up?” asked Jimmy.

“We had a tipper.” Sawyer turned and looked at Cat as she came up the stairs.

“Cat?” gasped Jenny.

“How?” asked Lily.

“I saw them just as I was leaving,” said Cat.

“Then why didn’t you do anything?” asked Lois.

“Because I write about pretty clothes for a living and I have a sense of self-preservation,” deadpanned Cat. “Unlike some people I know.” She looked at Lois, and then at Clara. “I mean, goodness sakes, Clara! You really pulled a Lois back there!”

“Pulled a _what_?”

“It seemed smart.” Clara rubbed the back of her head. “You know, at the time.”

“That was incredibly stupid,” said Jovan. “And also really cool.”

Lily snorted.

“Well.” Sawyer crossed her arms. “It sounds like we’re going to have a lot to talk about during debriefing.

“You can say that again,” said Lois. She glanced at Clara, and Clara gulped. She got the feeling that she wasn’t going to hear the end of that ‘girlfriend’ comment.

 

————

 

            “Kent, wait up!”

            Clara turned away from the street as Lois jogged up to her, panting.

“When did you get so fast?” gasped Lois.

“Long legs,” said Clara. “Are you okay?”

“Am I okay?” Lois stared up at her. “I’m not the one who was held as a hostage by a crazy armed thug!”

“You were, actually,” said Clara.

“Oh, shut up!” Lois jabbed a finger in her face. “You know that’s not what I meant! What the heck did Fuentes mean by that whole ‘girlfriend’ comment?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” asked Clara.

“Yes!” shouted Lois. “No! I don’t know!” She threw her hands into the air. “Ugh! He made it sound like you were in love with me or something, and I just want to know why he thought that!”

“That’s because I am in love with you.”

“Oh. Lois froze. “Oh.” She looked up at Clara, who was illuminated by the light of the street lamps, with the lights of the cop cars reflected on her glasses.

            “I guess I couldn’t hide it for forever.” Clara chuckled softly. “Gee, though, I kinda hoped I could.”

            “How long has this been going on?” Lois’s mind was running like a coffee-addicted rat on an exercise wheel. “How long have you felt like this?”

“A few months,” said Clara.

“Then why didn’t you _say_ anything?” Lois was dimly aware that she was shouting, but she didn’t particularly care.

“Because you don’t love me back.” Clara looked down at Lois, and she still had a soft smile on her face, which was _unfair_ , but there was also something else there. Something sad.

Lois wasn’t sure what to say to that.

“You like Superwoman,” said Clara. “Or you liked Lex Luthor. Or Lana Lang. Or other, rich, famous, powerful people who aren’t a reporter from the middle of rural Kansas. I’m not your type Lois, and I think we both know that.”

“Hey, that’s not fair!”

“I’m not mad at you, Lois,” said Clara. “I’ve accepted that you don’t—.”

“Shut up!” Lois smacked Clara on the arm, and fought back a wince. Underneath that baggy suit, Clara was really made of steel. “Listen. You might not be my type, but I do like you, Kent. You’re a good reporter, and a good friend.” Lois jabbed a finger at her. “You like me, fine. But I’m not going to change our relationship, good or bad, because of something some whack-job with a gun said.” Lois held out a hand. “Let’s be friends, okay? At least for now.”

“Friends?” Clara looked at her hand, and took it and shook it. “That sounds nice.”

“So, if you want a lift home….”

“No, I’ll walk,” said Clara. “I live close enough. And it’s nice to clear my head.”

Thunder rumbled in the distance.

“You sure?” Lois looked dubiously up at the sky.

“Sure I’m sure!” Clara said, her Kansas accent poking through. “But thank you, Lois.” She smiled a smile that could melt butter with how warm it was. “I appreciate it.”

“Yeah,” said Lois. “No problem. Now, you’d better hurry if you want to beat the rain.”

“I should just be able to make it,” said Clara. She stepped away and waved. “It was nice talking with you, Lois. Take care.”

“You too,” said Lois. She waved at Clara as she walked away.

Clara Kent as Lois’s girlfriend, huh?

…well, she didn’t hate the idea.

**Author's Note:**

> Lily is my self insert, Jenny is the self-insert of Psyche_Angel (PsycheAngel on Tumblr), and Jovan is the self insert of GabbyZVolt25 on Tumblr.


End file.
